The story of once-hyped augmented reality (AR) startup Blippar has come to an end. The London-based company announced yesterday that it had started insolvency procedures, a process that means all employees will be let go and, likely, services terminated. Back in September, Blippar raised $37 million as it sought more runway to reach profitability by focusing […]

As people continue to purchase tens of millions of smart speakers around the world, the Echo Dot and Home Mini continue to lead global sales by the numbers. But the new twist we collectively witnessed in the past year was the emergence of the smart display, a new category of devices that gives the likes […]

The #MeToo movement has toppled dozens of prominent men in American society over the past 18 months. Some other English-speaking countries, however, have only seen modest or muted reckonings. As Australia’s ABC News put it in May, “There’s been a steady stream of #MeToo headlines out of the US, but it’s more of a trickle […]

Ada, a Canada-based startup that is setting out to help companies develop their own automated customer service tools, has raised CAD$19 million (USD$14 million) in a series A round of funding led by New York-based VC firm FirstMark Capital, with participation from Leaders Fund, Burst Capital, Bessemer, Version One, and computer scientist Barney Pell. Founded […]

Alphabet’s in-house incubator, Jigsaw, has revealed that it is opening up its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered abuse-detection technology to more languages, starting with Spanish. Anyone who has spent time reading the comments section on websites will know all too well that they can be unpleasant places, with abuse and trolling comments commonplace. That is why Google’s Counter Abuse […]

Japan’s FreakOut Holdings has acquired Playwire, an internet video company that provides free and paid video players for independent video publishers. Tokyo-based FreakOut Holdings is a digital advertising company that was founded in 2010 by Yuzuru Honda. It now has subsidiaries in 16 countries throughout the Asia Pacific region, and it offers programmatic advertising technology that expands […]

Messenger is taking a page from other properties in Facebook’s family of apps with the addition of new camera effects. Messenger is adding two new camera modes — Boomerang, the video looping effect popularized on Instagram, and Selfie Mode, which puts the subject of the photo or video in crisper focus. Messenger is also adding […]

Google has confirmed major expansion plans for New York City, as the company gears up to invest more than $1 billion as part of a broader plan that could double its headcount in the Big Apple over the next decade. The Alphabet subsidiary said that it has signed lease agreements at 315 and 345 Hudson […]

Colin Kroll, the cofounder of video looping app Vine and high-flying trivia game HQ Trivia, has died at the age of 35. An official with the NYPD’s public information office confirmed that a female 911 caller asked for a welfare check, and Kroll was pronounced dead at 12:18 eastern time this morning. Kroll’s death is […]

The first unboxing video for Google’s 6DOF controllers hit the Web as the first wave of developer kits appear to be shipping out. VR and AR developer Alex Coulombe posted the following video showing the complete contents of the developer kit, including AAA batteries and a charger for them as well as the controllers, the “tracking faceplate” […]

Osterhout Design Group (ODG) may be dead before mass shipping its R-9 augmented reality glasses, with an asset sale planned for January focused on the AR company’s patent portfolio. I left a voicemail on ODG’s listed phone line, sent an email, and spoke briefly on the phone with a representative of Hilco Streambank, which describes the […]

It should surprise no one that where we gets our news plays a significant part in determining what we believe to be true. But lying isn’t partisan. Democrat or Conservative, both parties lie with astonishing frequency. According to a recent Washington Post poll, a startling number of citizens still recognize facts solely along party lines, […]

Twitch has come a long way since it debuted in 2011 as Justin.tv. And now the company is making us feel teary with its livestreamed Twitch Holiday Spectacular, which is a special edition of Twitch Weekly that features guests from the community and highlighted big moments and milestones from 2018. The livestreaming division of Amazon said […]

Google is doing itself a disservice by keeping Google+ on life support. The “ghost town” of a social network (yes, yes, I know it still has a handful of rabid fans) has only two purposes nowadays: having your data stolen and being the butt of jokes. In October, Google announced Google+ will be shutting down […]

Presented by Diamond CBD Americans are primed for nostalgia these days, whether it be the return of Murphy Brown, a reboot of Magnum P.I., or, in the case of hemp-derived CBD manufacturer Diamond CBD, the iconic “Get a Mac” campaign from the mid-aughts that pitted Mac and PC against one another. Diamond CBD, a nationwide […]

Facebook’s Portal smart display is adding support for custom video call camera control, Instant Games, and several other new features. The updates are part of Facebook’s efforts to convince consumers to buy the Portal over Google’s Home Hub and Amazon’s Echo Show. Unique to Portal are an AI-powered camera and volume for enhanced video calls, […]

(Reuters) — YouTube took down more than 58 million videos and 224 million comments during the third quarter based on violations of its policies, the unit of Alphabet’s Google said on Thursday in an effort to demonstrate progress in suppressing problem content. Government officials and interest groups in the United States, Europe, and Asia have been […]

Square is perhaps best known for its core payments product that allows any merchant to accept card payments through a mobile device. But the company also offers a number of complementary services, such as food delivery from local restaurants via Caviar, small business financing via Square Capital, and a bookings service called Square Appointments. Square […]

After dipping its toes into original programming for more than a year, Facebook launched its Netflix and YouTube competitor, Facebook Watch, globally this summer. Now, Facebook is saying for the first time since August how many people are tuning in. In a blog post published today and attributed to Facebook’s head of video Fidji Simo, […]

Apple announced it will spend $1 billion on a new campus in North Austin while also opening new offices in Seattle and Southern California. In a press release, the company also sought to emphasize its economic impact across the U.S., noting that it has employees in all 50 states and is on track to meet […]